Orange taps Movea to create a gesture-based set-top box

European telecom carrier Orange has teamed up with Movea to create a set-top box for the living room that operates on gesture controls.

The set-top will use Grenoble, France-based Movea’s motion-sensing and processing technologies to enable TV watchers to control their television choices with hand gestures. They’ll also be able to play motion-sensing games and navigate through a user interface with the twist of a wrist.

The new Orange Livebox set-top uses Movea’s SmartMotion Server, a motion-processing engine. The box will ship with a special remote control that works much the way that a Wii game console remote does.

“With the rapid evolution of smart TVs and smart-home systems, we see the demand for more intelligent home entertainment devices and natural user interfaces,” said Jean-Bernard Willem, head of content marketing for Orange France.

For Orange, the set-top is a way to control lots of things in the home beyond TV shows. You can use hand gestures to control volume, web browsing, and gamepads or joysticks as well as to navigate through music, video, and photos.

The SmartMotion Server works with 10 different gestures. You can make a “check” gesture to select an item and an “X” gesture to close an app.

“Movea and Orange are leading the charge in responding to consumers’ increasing appetite for a more powerful and intuitive home theater experience,” said Sam Guilaumé, chief executive of Movea.

Movea’s SmartMotion Server is platform agnostic, while Orange’s Livebox Play TV service delivers new sources of revenue, such as video on demand and TV apps. Orange’s Livebox set-top box with remote control is now available for preorder and will be ready for purchase in February.